Day 11 of 365 - getting brave together

I had a wonderful day on Saturday presenting a workshop, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, at the Interfaith Peace Conference at Lake Junaluska. A lovely group gathered for both sessions as we explored the topic - Inclusive Conversations: Getting Brave and Talking about Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. All the people who attended were very open to learning all they could about sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. I think a portion of what I taught was very new to some them and a little challenging to accept and understand, but they were all keen to learn more.

There were several people who expressed a strong desire to speak out as an ally to LGBTQ people in the church, but they admitted that fear held them back, often coupled with the concern that they don’t feel comfortable or confident about what to say to others about their commitment to LGBTQ inclusion.

As so often in the past, it became clear to me yet again, that our challenge is not that we don’t have enough people in The UMC having inclusive thoughts, we just need more of them to get brave and speak out.

So… the pressing question is… what does it take to get brave? This week I’m going to focus on some ideas for getting brave. I don’t expect to come up with anything new here, but maybe remind you of some ideas you might have heard before. It can take a time or two before we are ready for an idea to get planted and grow fruit. And remember all of this is intended to help us reclaim our voice and our agency as our church journeys together towards the called General Conference in February 2019. If there was ever a time to get brave, to speak out, to let others know you are having inclusive thoughts, it is now. Let’s do this!

Action: I've created a secret Facebook group Inclusive Thoughts - Road to General Conference 2019. Secret groups can't be seen by anyone else on Facebook apart from the people who are in it. I hope it becomes a safe place where we can share our stories about being brave and speaking out, and where we can offer one another hope and encouragement along the way. If you'd like to be part of this group please send me an email and I'll add you.